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Not everyone is remembering Hugh Hefner fondly after the Playboy founder's death on Wednesday.
While tributes from Hollywood and beyond pour in on Twitter, feminists are using the social media platform to voice their view: Hefner built an empire by objectifying women, plain and simple.
"Hugh Hefner is rightly remembered for rebelling against right wing moralism before most people, but please don't forget he treated women like garbage to do it," feminist author Jessica Valenti tweeted.
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'The Girls Next Door' React to Hugh Hefner's Death
View StorySophie Walker, the leader of the Women's Equality Party in the United Kingdom, criticized a BBC reporter for calling Hefner "the father of sexual liberation. "Word they were looking for was exploitation, I think," she tweeted.
And it's not just women who see Hefner's accomplishments as problematic. Movie critic Scott Weinberg, for example, faulted the pornography icon for questionable ethics in publishing.
"Everyone saying awesome stuff about Hugh Hefner... wasn't he among the first to publish nude photos women didn't want published? (charlize)," he tweeted.
On Thursday morning, Glamour published an opinion piece written by Claire Heuchan, who argued celebrations of Hefner's life and work "gloss over the sexism that was the foundation of Hefner's company."
"Hugh Hefner is now being celebrated as a 'cultural icon who helped change the world' – and he did change the world, but not for the better," Heuchan wrote. "Hefner normalised the sexual objectification of women and paved the way to porn culture. Hefner's legacy is selling male fantasies of women's bodies and women's sexuality as 'freedom'. But really, it's just more of the same old misogyny."
Take a look at what people are saying about Hefner from a feminist perspective:
lol Hugh Hefner Twitter is the worst Twitter. who knew.
@JessicaValenti
Hugh Hefner is rightly remembered for rebelling against right wing moralism before most people, but please don't forget he treated women like garbage to do it.
@JessicaValenti
lol to all the sexual revolution scholars in my mentions who think it was Hefner that gave the space to women to be publicly sexual
@JessicaValenti
Women have been figuring that shit out for eons, friends. What Hefner did was make the objectification of women aspirational.
@JessicaValenti
Just like quaaludes, Hugh Hefner is gone from earth. But the memories of him giving quaaludes to women at the mansion with Cosby won't die.
@JenKirkman
Lots to admire about Hugh's politics on a general level. Civil rights. Gay rights. But women are tired of that old dichotomy. pic.twitter.com/usGHDkMv7M
@JenKirkman
'The notion Playboy turns women into sex objects is ridiculous.Women are sex objects.Thats why women wear lipstick & short skirts.' Bye Hugh
@SophieRunning
BBC just called Hugh Hefner 'the father of sexual liberation.' Word they were looking for was exploitation, I think. https://t.co/1sItdiGIXf
@SophieRunning
Hefner built an empire on objectifying and commoditising women. A line to say 'feminists criticised him' is pathetic https://t.co/8MZO5NFiKJ
@SophieRunning
Before I research Hugh Hefner the humanitarian, the civil rights activist, the pioneer I picture how he objectified women.
@curlycomedy
He was the prime example of how feminism was co-opted and the momentum of the women's movement was used to benefit men.
@vonny_bravo
When his number of sexual conquests is reported alongside his 'activism', that should give you pause.
@vonny_bravo
Don't be fooled: Playboy was a vehicle to make money from women's bodies. It was a business, not an tool of liberation.
@vonny_bravo
Hugh Hefner's relationships were consensual, but there's an undeniable tone of treating women like products to be consumed.
@cmclymer
Hugh Hefner might have died but his renowned ability to build an empire on the objectification of women lives on.
@TheSamhita
Please read this essential @KateAurthur consideration of Holly Madison's life inside the Playboy Mansion https://t.co/BaFmozLpBo
@shani_o
While we're on obvious truth bombs: Hugh Hefner did not sexually liberate women.
@CCriadoPerez
Saw my first Playboy at 12yrs old. 25yrs later, I'm still grappling with its effects on my ability to embrace reality & pursue intimacy.
@sammyrhodes
It's right to mourn the death of Hugh Hefner. And it's not wrong to mourn the legacy of rape culture, the obj of women, & sex trafficking.
@sammyrhodes
Everyone saying awesome stuff about Hugh Hefner... wasn't he among the first to publish nude photos women didn't want published? (charlize)
@scottEweinberg
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